Arriving back home from an overseas trip this weekend just in time, I switched on the TV, like tens of thousands of football fans, to watch the Top 5 match-up between the Louisville Cardinals and Clemson Tigers. Other devotees across the Commonwealth cheered as the Tennessee Volunteers shocked the Georgia Bulldogs with a “Hail Mary” pass in the final seconds, or lamented as the Alabama Crimson Tide rolled their beloved Kentucky Wildcats.
Beyond just the multiplicity and magnitude of our stadiums and arenas, the painted faces of jersey-clad, frenzied fans, celebrating scores or ranting over unsuccessful plays, illuminate the obvious: We are a sports-crazed people!
“Nothing else in our culture produces so much passion and intrigue,” asserts Southern Seminary professor and Lexington pastor David Prince. Such obsession, he says, should lead us to ponder, “How should the Christian think about sports? What does Christ have to do with athletic competition? Can sports be re-deemed?”
In his new book, “In the Arena: The Promise of Sports for Christian Disciple-ship,” the pastor of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church contends that the lessons learn in the sports arena can have profound implications when applied to the ultimate arena of life. His desire in writing the book is to provide “a valuable resource in helping Christian coaches and players on all levels, from youth leagues to professional, as well as in assisting parents of athletes and fans in thinking biblically and intentional as Christians about their participation in and enjoyment of sports.”
As a former baseball player and coach, his love for the diamond shines forth in his illustrations, but he also employs examples from the football field and basketball court. Whatever your favorite sport may be, Prince collects us with a fascinating premise, “(T)he cultural diversity illustrated by the variety of sports, like the cultural diversity of music and art, is a manifestation of the expanse of God’s glory.”
While acknowledging the ever-present propensity for sports to become an idol, Prince also sees the usefulness of sports for Christian discipleship. In revealing one’s character, sports can provide lessons of honesty, fairness, faith, endurance, sacrifice for others, hope and belonging to community (or team), for example. “Sports, rightfully understood, are just one means to the greater end of delighting in God,” he writes. “Sports must not become an idolatrous competitor with God instead of a means to glo-rify him.”
Borrowing a phrase from C.S. Lewis, Prince hits full stride in concluding, “Every part of our lives, including our sports lives, must run on ‘the right juice’ or we will inevitably turn gifts into idols. To run on the right juice we must forsake a self-referential approach to life, embracing a radically Christ-centered life and walking humbly before God with fierce gospel focused intentionality before men in community.”
“In the Arena” debunks the false dichotomy of attempting to compartmentalize the practice of one’s faith and one’s performance on the athletic field. It is both energizing and mobilizing to discover, however, that just as one’s skills and abilities in any business field may be used to glorify God, so can one’s performance “in the arena” be used to shine the light of Christ among teammates, opposing players and fans. Prince’s book should be required reading for Christian players and coaches alike.
Todd Deaton